Marta, Liviu: The Late Bronze Age Settlements of Petea-Csengersima (Satu Mare, 2009)

II. Excavations

moment they occurred in case several units were comprised into an archaeological complex (eg the post holes of a surface dwelling).

The Romanian side of the site was excavated by hand in the spring of 1999, in the area next to the main building of the customs (S6 and S8). Simultaneously we continued excavating the road that connected the entrance way to the exit way between the two customs points (S7, S9, S10, SI 1) as well as the area where the pavilion over the entrance on the Romanian territory was to be placed (SI8, SI9, S20, S20, S21). The sectors S23, S24 and S25 had been excavated in order to enable investigations in the area nearby the border, where the connection to the entrance road in the Hungarian customs point wasn't completed. Due to low rhythm and high costs of the manual excavation, we continued with mechanized digging and we began with surfaces SI6 and SI7. This technique was imperative as much as some areas of the site came out to be covered with a layer of earth resulted from the excavation of the Erge canal and from the foundation ditches of the buildings from the customs point. Where the surfaces were mechanically dug out, the excavation was made only as down as to the base of the ploughed soil, and the prehistoric cultural layer of 0,15—0,35 cm thick was removed by hand. This operation was necessary because there was a great quantity of prehistoric objects and because sometimes archaeological complexes occurred (platforms of fired clay, depositions of vessels, even holes). Two sectors (S14 and S15) were opened nearby the place where the bronze needles hoard was discovered in order to provide more information about the area where it was buried. The archaeological excavations from the central area of the Romanian customs ceased at the end of May, 1999. In September, in the same year they were resumed, as new commercial points were built in the area between the two customs on the Romanian territory. The area that had been researched before the commercial points were built comprised the sections S26—S34, S36 and S37. A surface from the margin of a recent pit that was excavated for the clay to be used in constructions was investigated through cassette 35. There were two archaeological complexes in the profile of the two pits. The investigations in the Romanian area of the customs were finished at the end of May, 2004. The excavated surface from the surrounding area of the Petea—Csengersima site on the Romanian territory had 6874 m2. The surface that was subject to an archaeological investigation in the Romanian part of the site was small as compared to the one on the Hungarian territory due to several factors. First, it was due to the fact that the archaeological research started when the construction of the customs was ongoing. At that time, the main buildings of the customs had already been finished, as well as the new pavilion and the new road, both on the exit way from Romania. The existence of a cultural layer and the delay caused by the use of mechanical device were two aspects likely to diminish the trial area. Despite the small area investigated, the surfaces on the Romanian territory provided the image of the archaeological complexes that spread over a surface of approximately 2 hectares. Each sector (surface or trench) on the Romanian territory was labelled with “S” in order to simplify the registration of the data. For more efficiency, the numbering of the archaeological complexes was decided to be done separately for each of the researched areas, because there were several areas researched simultaneously. In whole, the archaeological site at Petea covered nearly 4 hectares. This surface equaled an area of 650 m in length (east-west direction) and 100—120 m in width. It was part of the 7 hectares area of an archaeological site that spread on both banks of the Erge brook.